Cost of backup solutions

How do I
1

Hi, there. I’ve been looking into transferring my multi-site management to MainWP for a few weeks now. However, I am facing a major issue. Backups.

I’ve set up my Amazon S3 account. Then configured WP Vivid Pro on the 144 websites I manage… and launched the backups on all the websites.

So far, so good… until I saw the bill after 30 days… almost double what I pay with ManageWP.

Add to that NodePing for monitoring, and I’m up to 120% of what I paid with ManageWP.

I’ve searched far and wide for other backup solutions… I can’t see anything that beats the cost and ease of use of ManageWP.

Would any of you be kind enough to help me out and give me some quotes on your backup solutions and associated costs?

Thank you for your help.

2

Hey @FacteurWEB

Welcome to the MainWP community.

Beyond the backup extensions, which do require the respective backup plugin, we also have the API Backups feature: Manage Backups - MainWP Knowledgebase

API Backups does not require plugins on the child site, so there isn’t any additional potential cost. Instead, it allows you to make backups directly on your hosting provider, a Cloud Manager, or a VPS.

Right now, it supports cPanel (Native and WP Toolkit) and Plesk (WP Toolkit) backups, Cloudways and GridPane cloud managers, and Vultr, Akamai (Linode), and DigitalOcean VPS providers.

3

Hi Bojan,

I know about API backups. However, there is still a cost associated with the extra disk space required for backed-up website files.

I don’t see any point in backing up my customers’ websites on the same server where their hosting account is installed (cPanel)… if the server crashes, there’s no way of recovering them quickly.

I’ve checked with Vultr… this solution could be interesting if it’s possible to go with the Block Storage (HDD) option. For 1TB, the cost would be $25 per month.

So my question is: Is this the right type of storage to use with your API backups?

4

When the API Backups extension triggers a backup, it sends the API call to Vultr.

There is nothing in that call to specify which backup option should be used, so Vultr will use whichever is configured as the default option.

5

Is there any way of estimating costs?

And if I understand correctly, once my Vultr’s account has been created, all I have to do is configure the API key and then… Vultr will take care of my backups according to my configuration on MainWP… is that right?

6

I have configured Vultr: Awesome Screenshot

And I get this error message when I run the backup: Awesome Screenshot

Could it be because I need to have my hosting server at Vultr to access their API?

Does the API backups function only work if the backup files are deposited on the same server provider?

Can I back up my websites on my Montreal server to Vultr servers in Toronto?

Sorry about my questions… but there’s a serious lack of information on the subject.

7

I believe a misunderstanding occurred.
You cannot use Vultr as a type of remote storage option if the site isn’t hosted there.

If you have a child site hosted on Vultr, Akamai, Cloudways or any other supported solutions that I mentioned earlier, then you can use API Backups as a way of triggering backups or restorations.

You can read more in our documentation Manage Backups - MainWP Knowledgebase, or check out our video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey3OFHx7Ry8

8

Now it’s much clearer.

Too bad. It won’t work with MainWP. The cost of storing backups for more than 150 websites via WP Vivid is too high, even at Amazon S3.

MainWP seems better suited to smaller agencies. I’ll have to keep ManageWP services.

9

There are multiple alternatives to the backup and uptime monitoring solutions you’ve mentioned, and most of them aren’t as expensive.

Backup options provided by MainWP are very flexible, and they are not limited to a specific backup plugin or a storage solution.

With that flexibility comes a range of potential costs.

MainWP has proven itself to be much more affordable for large agencies because, with MainWP, the cost doesn’t scale linearly with the number of managed sites.
Although it can if one wants it to.

I’m locking the post now.
If you have any further questions or concerns about this, please open a help desk ticket: https://mainwp.com/my-account/get-support/

11

Hi Patrick,

I’m just catching up to this so I wanted to respond with what I am seeing.

Regarding the cost of Amazon S3 storage for your site backups. Here are some alternative storage solutions that might be more cost-effective.

Some of our extensions and corresponding plugins support SFTP/FTP remote storage. For example, you could use Vultr HDD storage or a similar option, which offers a more affordable pricing structure.

While I’m not certain about your exact storage requirements, a quick estimate for 150 sites being backed up on ManageWP suggests a cost of approximately $300 per month ($2 per site) and if you went with their free backups you get 1 per month, with additional expenses for remote storage if you opt for Amazon S3 (if available in ManageWP). Even if you went with their Bundle plans your still looking at $200 a month that math breaks down as 2 bundles of 100 sites each with backups being $75 per bundle and Uptime being $25 per bundle.

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If WPvivid Backups is your final choice, their Ultimate Lifetime license is priced at $299 and covers all your current and future sites, which is still less than what you would pay for two months of ManageWP backups.

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Regarding uptime monitoring, ManageWP charges $1 per site, totaling $150 for 150 sites.

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Alternatively, NodePing offers a plan for $25 per month for up to 200 monitors, and Uptime Robot has plans ranging from $30 to $50 per month.

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Additionally, MainWP provides basic uptime monitoring for free, which might meet your needs.

Let’s review an example for an agency managing 150 sites:

With MainWP

Backup Extensions - Free
Advanced Uptime Monitoring - Free
WPvivid Pro (if chosen) - $300 one-time payment for unlimited sites
Additional remote storage (if needed) - $20 per month for 80GB Vultr or ~$25 per month for 1TB Amazon S3
Advanced monitoring (if needed) - $25 per month for NodePing

So, this would be a $300 one-time payment and about $50 per month for backup storage and advanced uptime monitoring.

With ManageWP

Per Site Pricing

Backups - $2 per site per month, totaling $300 per month (cost for external storage, if available, would be similar to WPvivid)
Uptime monitoring - $1 per site per month, totaling $150 per month

In total, this would be $450 per month.

Bundle Pricing

So with 2 bundles that you would need for 150 sites
Would be $75 per month * 2 for backups and $25 *2 for Uptime monitor that still gives you a cost of $200 per month for 150 sites

I hope this addresses your concerns. As Bojan mentioned, if you would like to continue the discussion, please feel free to open a ticket.

Thanks

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12

I “solved” our backup needs with MainWP in a way that we use All in one WP migration plugin + scheduled offsite backups on our 2.5 TB pCloud (we bought its LifeTime Deal), and I am only sorry that we don’t so fa MainWP extension for that, either from MainWP Team or from All in one author. We maintain 50+ sites in this way.

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